Tag: invests

The core investor of Ughelli Power Plc, Transcorp,  has  invested N65 billion into the power plant, its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Adeoye Fadeyibi has said.

Director, Public Communications, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) Mr. Chigbo Anichebe  made this known in a statement yesterday.

According to the statement, Fadeyibi spoke when the Senate Committee on Privatisation paid an oversight visit to Ughelli Power.

Fadeyibi  said the core investor has raised the capacity  from 170 megawatts Mw (at handover of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria successor company to the core investor in November 2013) to 420MW— representing 46 per cent of the 972 MW available capacity.

He added that the short/medium/long term goal include “gradual increase of plant output while stabilising energy sent out to conform with industry standards till we get to original plant installed capacity of 1000MW by end 2015”, and “expansion of plant capacity by the installation of 1000MW greenfield power plant by the end of 2018.” He noted that about 70 per cent of its current assets in the plant employ U.S. technology.

Senate Committee chair,  Senator Olugbenga Obadara, commended the company for the local content of its management team.

Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has commended the management of Ughelli Power Plc for the level of development and investment within six months of take over. He  said that the Delta State Government decided to invest in the power sector so that the profit would be used to subsidise power supply to the rural communities in the state.

The governor who spoke when  the Senate Committee paid him a courtesy call in Warri, also commended the management of Benin Distribution Company for its effort at boosting power distribution within its area of operation.

He noted that the oversight activities of the law makers would help to keep managers of privatised companies on their toes and ensure returns on investment for the benefit of Nigerians.

The Committee visited the new Warri Ports where it praised the satisfactory performance of the operators, Messrs Associated Maritime Services, for the excellent development of the infrastructure and commitment to the Concession Agreement.

Senator Obadara advised the concessionaire to apply for extension of the concession period to enable them continue with their good works and development of the ports given that the firm has three years left of its 10 year- concession period.

Officials of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) also attested to the excellent performance of the concessionaire with regard to safety, revenue target, infrastructure development, manpower training and almost 100 per cent local content of its personnel.

Bristow Helicopters  has invested over $6 million in the onstruction of a maintenance hangar in Port Harcourt, the  Managing Director, Captain Akin Oni, has said

Oni, who made this known at a briefing yesterday in Lagos, said  the firm spends over $5 million annually in the training of helicopter polits and engineers at the Bristow Academy in the United States of America.

He said the firm will continue to invest in domestic capacity in the aviation sector by supporting the training of helicopter pilots and engineers at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology ( NCAT), in Zaria, adding that the airline has capacity to carry out major maintenance repairs  on its 31 aircraft at its hangar in Lagos using indigenous engineers.

Oni said since five years  ago when Bristow commenced the repairs of its helicopters in Nigeria using its indigenous engineers, it has saved the company over $1.5 million, hitherto spent on freight of the helicopter spares, taxes and duties and other associated costs.

He spoke of plans by the airline to acquire a micro turbines powered by gas to provide power supply for its operations,as one of the ways to reduce operating costs on the purchase of diesel .

He said the micro turbine that is expected to arrive Nigeria soon,  will cost Bristow over $ 1.5 million.

He listed challenges in the helicopter business to include inadequate infrastructure , which he said is being addressed by the government. He said epileptic power supply constitute a major headache for helicopter operations at the airport.

Oni said most operations are run on generating sets, thereby increasing the cost of doing business.

He said :” Infrastructure at the airports , especially power supply is a major headache, forcing most companies to run on generators.

This has huge impact in our operations. Another major challenge is the huge cost of training our pilots and engineers outside the country .

We need to develop local capacity in the training of such key personnel. If we train such personnel in Nigeria, we would save a lot of money .”

He denied insinuations in some quarters that Bristow was dominated by expatriate pilots and engineers.

Nestle has invested more than $850 million in Nigeria and other parts of Africa over the past five years, its Chief Executive Officer, Nestle, Mr Paul Bulcke, has said.

Speaking with The Nation, Bulcke said the company also plans to increase its investment on the continent, adding that the number of factories in Africa will be increased to 32 by next year.

He said the continent is considered a major contributor to the company’s overall growth and represents holds significant potential for business development.

“The African continent is considered internally as a major contributor to our overall growth and represents significant potential for business development. We have therefore invested more than $850 million in our operations in Nigeria and the rest of Africa over the past five years. We plan to increase the number of factories to 32 in 2015,” Bulcke said.

He said the company is focusing on rural development in Nigeria and Africa as a whole because the rural areas remain the major abode of a large part of the population.

According to him, the aim is to reduce poverty and hunger by adding more value to the raw agricultural products of the rural farmers.

His words: “At Nestle, we focus on three areas where we think we can have a meaningful impact. These are nutrition, water and rural development. Rural development is the backbone of Africa’s economy.

“Today, 80 per cent of Africa’s poor live in rural areas and depend mainly on agriculture for their livelihood. Therefore, our rural development initiatives in Africa aim to reduce poverty and hunger by adding more value to the raw agricultural products.

“For example, in Central and West Africa, up to 30 per cent of cereal crops are lost to mycotoxin contamination, caused largely by humidity and poor drying and storage practices. With Nestle’s Grain Quality Improvement Programme (GQIP), 10 000 farmers from the region were able to produce grains that met Nestle standards.

“Last year, the number rose to 30 000 farmers. Training those farmers and linking them to markets helped them achieve greater yields and higher quality crops which meant increased income and better living standard for them.”